I’m on a quest to make a great chicken marinade.

[LDO]

Years ago, I heard on the Food Network that alcohol helps a marinade “soak in” better. I was thinking of adding jalapeños and garlic to some white wine. I didn’t do that, but when making some liqueurs, I also made some jalapeño and garlic infused vodka. I tried it on some chicken thighs and they were really moist, but it didn’t add much flavor. 

Here is my second attempt. A lot of jalapeños, seven cloves of garlic, plus lime juice and some honey. It might have too much heat in it, but that’s ok. It can be dialed back by adding more Vodka.

I’m also trying a recipe I found online; it uses olive oil, but I did add some Vodka. I have high hopes for that one. If it turns out good, I’ll mix olive oil with the infusion to make it go farther. 

If anyone has suggestions, I’m all ears. 

Edited September 1, 2019 by LDO

[Tom Geiger]

If it doesn’t work try it on chrome and paint!

[StevenGuthmiller]

Generally, in order for a marinade to add flavor it needs to be made with very flavorful ingredients.

Vodka, if it's good vodka, has literally no flavor.

Usually more flavorful alcoholic beverages will inject more flavor.

Wine, bourbon, beer, tequila, etc.

Your best bet would be to dump all of your ingredients into a food processor or blender to get the flavors to meld.

 

My suggestion, if you want a very flavorful marinade for chicken, using the flavors that you mention above, dump some garlic, lime juice and the zest from the lime peel, olive oil, jalapenos, honey, salt, pepper, alcohol of choice and maybe some herbs, (in this case cilantro sounds like a perfect fit) into a blender and blend it into a paste.

Being as this combination sounds very Mexican, I would use beer or tequila as my alcohol, and maybe even a little white wine to boot.

But you don't need a lot of alcohol.

A little will do the job.

 

Something a little more interesting that might get people guessing would be to omit the honey and try a little Kahlua for your alcohol.

It will add sweetness and you might be surprised how great coffee is as a meat flavoring ingredient.

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by StevenGuthmiller

[Ace-Garageguy]

Similar to the above: beer, olive oil, chopped garlic and onion, cumin, paprika, cayenne and cracked black pepper, maybe a little salt. Marinate at least an hour, turning the chicken at least once. Longer is better.

Sorry...I never measure this stuff, just throw in some of this and some of that.

I don't see any reason to leave out the lime juice, jalapenos and honey either. 

+1 on the Kahlua idea (instead of the beer and honey), but you don't really want to get too much going on, as the flavor can get muddy and blah. Probably one of those times when making up a little, recording the proportions, and trying it on a coupla pieces would be wise. I've made some experiments that even the dog wouldn't eat.

PS: I use coffee, chocolate, and even maple syrup in chili sometimes. You never know what's going to be really great until you try it.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[LDO]

Coffee? That’s cool. I also started about 2 liters of coffee liqueur this weekend. 

The recipe I found with olive oil was just ok. The chicken was moist, but didn’t have much added flavor. I’m wondering about sautéing chicken thighs in an infused oil, then finishing up on the grill. I’ll keep at it.